Machine for setting fasteners upon blanks



Dec. 28, 1965 A. ANDERSON 3,225,994

MACHINE FOR SETTING FASTENERS UPON BLANKS Filed 001;. 14, 1963 3 Sheets-Sheet 1 Dec. 28, 1965 A. ANDERSON MACHINE FOR SETTING FASTENERS UPON BLANKS Filed Oct. 14, 1963 3 Sheets-Sheet a Dec. 28, 1965 E. A. ANDERSON MACHINE FOR SETTING FASTENERS UPON BLANKS Filed Oct. 14, 1963 3 Sheets-Sheet 3 United States Patent 3,225,994 MACHINE FOR SETTING FASTENERS UPON BLANKS Eugene A. Anderson, Lombard, lll., assignor to Scovill Manufacturing Company, Waterbury, Conn., a corporation of Connecticut Filed Oct. 14, 1963, Ser. No. 316,103 9 Claims. (Cl. 22739) This invention relates to a machine for setting complemental snap fastener elements upon a cardboard blank thatis later folded into a merchandising container.

The machine is an improvement upon the Jensen application filed November 17, 1961, Serial Number 153,- 015, now Patent 3,121,876.

The machine consist of numerous units, all inter-related to each other, such as the unit for feeding the cardboard blanks to the machine, units for setting snap fastener elements in proper relation to the blank, units for stopping the blank at the right position and the units for adjusting the fastener machine to accommodate different sizes of blanks.

The principal object of this invention is to coordinate all of the above units into a machine, such that they can be driven from a single source of power and not rely upon any electrical controls.

7 Another object of the invention is to drive the fastenersetting units through a gear drive rather than through the customary single-revolution clutch control.

Another object is to provide a special gear drive connection between the gears in the fastener-setting units and the main shafts of said units so that said units can be disconnected from the power drives of the main machine. This is for the purposes of adjusting the plungers of the setting units and coordinating the timing of the two setting units relative to each other and to other operating units of the machine.

1 The machine possesses other objects and features of advantages, some of which with the foregoing, will be set forth in thefollowing description of my invention and the appended claims.

In the drawings:'

FIG. 1 is a plan view of the machine;

FIG. 2 is a front elevation of the machine with portions in section, taken substantially along the line 2-2 of FIG. 1;

FIG. 3 is a right-end view or discharge end of the machine;

FIG. 4 is a view taken along the line 4-4 of FIG. 1 showing in more detail, one of the fastener-setting units;

FIG. 5 is an elevational view of a portion of the feeding end of the machine; a

FIG. 6'is a perspective view of a cardboard blank and the fastener elements to be attached thereto;

' FIG. 7 is a sectional view of the drive connection for the fastener-setting units;

FIG. 8 is a right-end view of same; and

, FIG. 9 is a section on line 99 of FIG. 7 showing the lock pin in unlocked position.

The function of this machine is to simultaneously attach complemental snap fastener elements in a predetermined position on a cardboard blank.

FIG. 6 shows a conventional form of blank 10 in which are formed fold lines 11, such that when folded up, will form a box suitable for holding merchandise, and which box will be held in releasable closed position by a stud member 12 attached to one corner and a socket member 13 attached to a diametrically opposite corner.

As shown in the drawings, the machine comprises a frame 14 having a pair of left or entrance end standards 15 and a pair of right or discharge end standards 16.

ice

All of said standards being suitably connected together by channel beams.

The means for conveying the blank through the machine consists of a series of endless belts 17 supported by end rollers 18 and 19. The roller 18 is a powerdriven roller supported to the left of the frame 14 on brackets 20 attached to the cross channels 21 connected between the left standards 15. The roller 18 is operated by a pulley 22 attached to one end and driven by a belt 23 and sheave 24 secured to an intermediate power shaft 25 mounted in suitable hearings in the left standards 15. Further description of the intermediate shaft will be given later. The roller 19 is an idler roller and is supported in suitable bearings in the right standards The upper courses of the belts 17 are supported by metal straps 26 running lengthwise of the machine and supported at one end by a cross bar 27 extended between the left standards 15 and similarly supported at their opposite ends by a cross bar 28 extended between the right standards 16.

Suitable guide rails or angle bars 29 are positioned on opposite sides of the end belts 17 and serve to guide the blanks 10 lengthwise through the machine. The rails 29 likewise, may be supported by the cross bars 27 and 28, or on any of the connecting channels of the frame. The blanks 10 are adapted to be fed individually into the machine and may be fed upon the belts 17 at the entrance end of the machine by hand or by any suitable blank-dispensing mechanism well-known in the trade.

F astener-setting units The general position of the fastener-setting units or mechanisms are best shown in FIGS. 1 and 2. The rearmost machine, designated A, is for setting the stud elements 12 upon the blank 10, and the foremost machine, designated B, is for setting the socket elements 13 upon said blank.

One of the desirable and new features of this complete machine is in providing a gear-drive for the setting machines A and B, said setting machines being driven from a common source of power through various shafts, gears, belts and chain drives.

Another desirable feature is to support the fastener machines on suitable unit structures so that the fastenersetting machines A and B can be adjusted longitudinally and transversely of the entire machine in order to accommodate difierent sizes of box blanks for setting the fastener elements thereupon.

The fastener-setting machines A and B may be of the same general type shown in Carpinella Patent 2,7 35,-

567, the only difference being that these machines are now gear-driven rather than clutch-driven.

The stud-setting machine A is positioned on a support bracket 30 movable lengthwise of the machine frame on a pair of tie-rods 31 connected to side-adustment carriages 32 and 33 (see FIG. 1). In like manner, the socket-setting machine B is mounted on a support bracket 34 adjustable on longitudinal tie-rods 35 extending between the side adjustment carriages 36 and 37.

In order to afford transverse adjustments of the setting machines A and B, the left carriages 32 and 36, as seen in FIG. 1, are slidably mounted on a transverse rod 38. supported by the left standards 15. In a like manner, the right carriages 33 and 37 are slidably mounted on a transverse rod 39 supported by the right standards 16.

The two rearmost carriages 32 and 33 with their connecting tie-rods 31, machine support bracket30 etc. are transversely moved as a unit by screw shafts 40 and 41,

- threadedly engaging respectively in thecarriages 32 and 33, and rotatably mounted in the rear standards 15 and 16. The screw shaft 40 outwardly of the standard 15, has a sprocket 42 and a hand wheel 43 mounted thereon. The screw shaft 41 also carries a sprocket 44 on its outward end which is connected to sprocket 43 by a link chain 45. In a like manner, the foremost carriages 36 and 37 with their tie-rods 35, machine support bracket 34 etc. are moved as a unit by screw shafts 46 and 47 mounted and operated like screw shafts 41 and 42,making use of a hand wheel 48, sprockets 49 and 50 and interconnecting link chain 51. Thus, it will be obvious that by merely turning the hand wheels 43 and 48, the setting units A and B may be moved transversely of the machine to accommodate different widths of the package blanks 10.

Drive for fastener-setting units The stud-setting machine A has a spur gear 52 detachably locked to its main shaft 53 in a manner to be more fully explained later. Gear 52 is driven by a like gear 54 keyed to and slidable along a splined shaft 55 medially supported in the machine support bracket 30 and having its opposite ends rotatably mounted in gear housings 32a and 33a forming a part of the carriages 32 and 33. Beveled gears 56 and 57 are keyed to the opposite ends of shaft 55. The left gear 56 as seen in FIG. 1, is driven by its mated gear 58 keyed to and slidable along a splined power shaft 59 journaled in left standards 15. The right gear 57 drives a mated gear 60 likewise keyed to and slidable along a splined cam shaft 61 journaled in right standards 16.

In like manner, the socket-attaching machine B has a spur gear 62 secured to its main shaft 63 and is driven by a like gear 64 keyed to and slidable along a splined shaft 65. The shaft 65 is medially supported by the machine support bracket 34 and has its left end journaled in gear housing 36a forming a part of the carriage 36, and its right end journaled in carriage 37. (In this case, carriage 37 has no gear housing.) The shaft 65 is operated by a beveled gear 66 on its left end and driven by a mating gear 67 keyed to and slidable along the power shaft 59.

The purpose of the cam shaft 61 is to operate the stops that arrest the movement of the blanks carried by the continuously moving belts 17 in proper position to the fastener-setting machines A and B, and also operate a pressure roller that functions to expedite the removal movement of said blanks from the setting machines after the fastener-setting operation. As seen in FIGS. 1, 2 and 3, the front end of shaft 61 carries a cam 68 that operates a cam-follower arm 69 attached to the front end of the rocker shaft 70 journaled in the right standards 16. The shaft 70 is also bearingly supported by journal blocks 71 depending from the belt support straps 26 (see FIGS. 2 and 4). A pair of stop finger levers 72 is secured to the rocker shaft 70 adjacent the blocks 71 and extend inwardly to a position where they engage pins 73 carrying stop fingers 74, on their opposite ends. The stop fingers 74 are mounted to slide vertically in guide blocks 75 attached to the underside of the support straps 26. The stop fingers 74 are operated to project upwardly between the upper courses of the belt 17 to stop a blank 10 just prior to the fastener-setting operation and to recede immediately after the setting operation. 9

In order to expedite the travel of the blanks 10 along with the continuously operating belt 17 after the setting operation and after the release of the stop fingers 74 from the forward edge of the blank 10, a drop roller 76 is provided that swings down to bear against the top of the blank 10 and increase the frictional factor between the blank and the traveling belts. To operate this drop roller 76, a cam 77 is attached to the rear end of the cam shaft 61 and operates a cam-follower arm 78 mounted on the end of another rocker shaft 79 journaled in the right standard 16 above the rocker shaft 70. A lever 80 is secured to the rocker shaft 79 above the belts 17 and on 4 its free end supports the drop roller 76 in vertical alignment above one of said belts.

Longitudinal adjustment of fastener-setting units When it is desired to move the fastener-setting machines A and B longitudinally along the support tie-rods 31 and 35, and also along the spline shafts 55 and 65 respectively, so as to accommodate different lengths of box blanks, provision is made for adjustment screws. Specifically, the stud-setting machine A is moved by a long adjustment screw 81 (see FIG. 1) having a rotatable and non-axial movement in one of the depending legs of each of the side adjustment carriages 32 and 33. The screw 81 has threaded engagement with a pair of legs depending from the support bracket 30. A hand wheel 82 is secured to the right end of screw shaft 81 (see FIG. 1). By turning the'hand wheel 82, the support bracket 30 will be. moved lengthwise of the machine frame sliding along the rods 31 as well as along the splined shaft 55 and carrying the setting machine 'A with it.

In a like manner, the socket-setting machine B is moved by a screw shaft 83 journaled in the depending legs from the adjustment carriages 36 and 37 and having threaded engagement with depending legs from the support bracket 34. A hand wheel 84 is secured to the right end of the screw shaft 83 for operating the same.

Drive mechanism As pointed out in the objects of the invention, all of the various units employed to make up the complete machine are operated from a single source of power. For this purpose, only one electric motor M is provided which sets on a pedestal 85 supported on cross channels of the machine frame 14 (see 'FIGS. 2 and 3). The motor shaft carries a sheave 86 which operates a pulley '87 by means of a belt 88. The pulley 87 is keyed on a jack shaft 89 suitably journaled in the left standards 15. The jack shaft 89 in turn, operates the intermediate shaft 25, previously mentioned, through sprockets 90 and 91 and a link chain 92. The shaft 25 operates the main power shaft 59 for the machine through gears 93 and 94 located outside of the left rear standard 15. From the above drives, it will be obvious that all of the units are operated from a single powersource and in proper timed relation to' each other.

Fastener-setting unit disconnecting mechanism In order to disconnect the drive of the fastener-setting units from the drives of the main machine for the purpose of properly timing one setting unit relative to another, and also to allow one setting unit to operate independently of the other, the mechanism as shown in FIGS. 7, 8 and 9 is resorted to.

The drive mechanism as shown and described, is incorporated in setting unit A, but it should be understood that the same drive connection is also applied to unit B. As best shown in FIG. 7, the gear 52 has a central counterbore 95 into which is fitted the flange 96 of a hub 97 extending outwardly from said gear. The hub 97 and gear 52 are normally non-rotatably locked together by means of several cap screws 98 threaded into said gear with complementary Washers 99 bearing against the hub flange 96. The gear 52 and the hub 97 as thus attached together, can be freely mounted on a reduced portion of the shaft 53 and allowed to rotate relative thereto.

In order to lock the gear 52 and hub 97 to shaft 53, a drive disc 100 is keyed to the outer end of shaft 53 as indicated at 101. The hub 97 is formed with a bore 102 in which is slidably fitted a locking pin 103 normally urged outwardly by a spring 104 compressed between the inner end of said pin and the adjacent face of the gear 52. The hub 97 has a T-shaped slot formed in its body and positioned to intercept the bore 102. The T-slot consists of a longitudinal slot 105 parallel with the axis of the bore 102 and a transverse slot 106. A handle member 107 is threaded into the pin 103 for manipulating the same. The

drive disc 100 is formed with a recess 108 in its inner face into which one end of the pin 103 is normally seated, such as shown in FIG. 7, and held there in place by the spring 104- for interlocking the gear 52 to shaft 53. In this position, the handle 107 is received in the longitudinal slot 105. When it is desired to disconnect the gear 52 from the shaft 53, it is only necessary to move the handle 107 inwardly against the influence of spring 104 and then laterally move the handle to one side or the other, into the transverse slot 106, such as seen in FIG. 9. In this position of the locking pin, the setting machines A and B can be properly adjusted and by loosening the cap screws 98, the hub 97 can be turned to a position where the locking pin 103 will align with the drive disc recess 108 and then tightened.

Operation In the operation of the machine, when motor M is energized, all of the operating units will be set in motion and as soon as a blank is placed on the traveling belts 17, it will be rapidly carried along said traveling belts to a position in front of the setting units A and B where said blank will be stopped by the stop fingers 74 in proper alignment with said setting units. I

The various drive shafts, gears, sprockets and interconnecting linkage are such that the units A and B are timed so that when a blank arrives and is stopped, the machine will set the fastener elements 12 and 13 at opposite corners of the blank at the position indicated by the Xs in FIG. 6. As soon as the fastener elements are set upon the blank, the stop fingers 74 are momentarily dropped to allow said blank to continue its travel with the belts and then return to their uppermost position to arrest the movement of the next succeeding blank. At about the time the stop fingers are dropped, the roller 76 is lowered upon the blank just operated upon so as to expedite its movement with the belts and clear out from the setting machines as soon as possible. The blanks with the attached fasteners are conveyed to the right end of the machine to be dropped beyond the belt roller 19 into a container or on to another conveyor belt where they may be properly stacked and packed for shipment.

If perchance, one of the hoppers for supplying fastener elements to the setting units should become exhausted, it would result in a run of blanks having fasteners applied to only one side thereof. Should this happen, it is only necessary to disconnect the setting unit that had previously set the fastener from the main drive by releasing the locking pin 103 as previously explained and the blanks could be re-run to receive the missing fasteners.

From the above description, it will be understood that all working units and operating parts of the machine are operated from a single source of power and if the speed of the power source is increased, the speed of the working units of the machine will be proportionately increased, and vice versa.

While the form of invention herein shown and described employs a preferred embodiment of the same, it is to be understood that the construction may be varied as to mechanical details without departing from the spirit of the invention and the scope of what is claimed.

What I claim is:

1. In a machine for applying a pair of complementary snap fastener elements to a blank; said machine comprising a frame consisting of four end standards joined by connected channels, one pair of standards being at the entrance end of the machine and the other pair being at the discharge end of the machine; cross rods connecting the entrance end and the discharge end standards together, four sets of carriages slidably mounted on said cross rods, means connecting two sets of carriages together so that they can slide as a unit transversely of the machine; a pair of fastener setting units, one unit mounted on one of carriage connecting means and the other unit mounted on the other carriage connecting means; longitudinal and transverse drive shafts connected between all of said carriages and arranged in a rectangular pattern; means for operating each of said shafts within said carriages, one of transverse shafts being power driven; and drive means for operating said setting units directly from said longitudinal shafts.

2. In a machine as defined in claim 1, wherein said drive means for said setting units is in the form of connecting gears, one on the longitudinal drive shafts between the connecting carriages and the other on the main shafts of the setting units.

3. In a machine as defined in claim 1, wherein means is provided for moving said setting units along the carriage connecting means between connected pairs of carriages.

4. In a machine for applying a pair of complementary snap fastener elements to a blank; said machine comprising a frame consisting of four end standards joined by connecting channels, one pair of standards being at the entrance end of the machine and the other pair being at the discharge end of the machine; cross rods connecting the entrance end and discharge end standards together, four sets of carriages slidably mounted on said cross rods, means connecting two sets of carriages together so that they can slide as a unit transversely of the machine; a pair of fastener-setting units, one unit mounted on one of the carriage connecting means and the other unit mounted on the other carriage connecting means; longitudinal and transverse shafts having drive connections within said carriages; the transverse shaft at the entrance end of the machine being power-driven and the shaft at the discharge end of the machine serving to operate subassemblies; continuously operating belt means for carrying said blanks through said machine; and means operated from the transverse shaft at the discharge end of the machine to stop said blanks in line with said setting units in timed relation to the operation of said setting units and to release said blanks after the fastener-setting operation.

5. In a machine as defined in claim 4, wherein means is provided for increasing the frictional factor between a blank and the belt means immediately after the setting operation.

6. In a machine as defined in claim 5, wherein the frictional factor means is operated from the transverse shaft at the discharge end of the machine.

7. In a machine as defined in claim 4, wherein means is provided for disconnecting the drive shafts of the fastener setting units from their respective drive connections with the longitudinal drive shafts whereby the timing of the setting units may be adjusted relative to each other and to the several working units of the machine.

8. A drive mechanism for a fastener-setting machine comprising a drive shaft for operating the components of the setting machine, a gear, a hub, means adjustably connecting said hub to said gear whereby relative rotation between said gear and hub may be obtained to any selected position of 360", said hub and said gear being mounted for free rotation upon said drive shaft, and manually operating means for locking and releasing said hub and gear as a unit from said drive shaft.

9. A drive mechanism having a fastener-setting machine as defined in claim 8, wherein means is provided for holding the manually operated means in released unlocked position.

References Cited by the Examiner UNITED STATES PATENTS 611,214 9/1898 Green 1149 1,151,892 8/1915 Madsen 1-149 X 1,796,143 3/1931 Davidson 1-330 X 1,886,971 11/1932 Newhouse 1330 2,098,573 11/1937 Dingle 1-388 GRANVILLE Y. CUSTER, JR., Primary Examiner. 

1. IN A MACHINE FOR APPLYING A PAIR OF COMPLEMENTARY SANP FASTENER ELEMENTS TO A BLANK; SAID MACHINE COMPRISING A FRAME CONSISTING OF FOUR END STANDARDS JOINED BY CONNECTED CHANNELS, ONE PAIR OF STANDARDS BEING AT THE ENTRACE END OF THE MACHINE AND THE OTHER PAIR BEING AT THE DISCHARGE END OF THE MACHINE; CROSS RODS CONNECTING THE ENTRANCE END AND THE DISCHARGE END STANDARDS TOGETHER, FOUR SETS OF CARRAIGES SLIDABLY MOUNTED ON SAID CROSS RODS, MEANS CONNECTING TWO SES OF CARRIAGES TOGETHER SO THAT THEY CAN SLIDE AS A UNIT TRANSVERSELY OF THE MACHINE; A PAIR OF FASTENER SETTING UNITS, ONE UNIT MOUNTED ON ONE OF CARRIAGE CONNECTING AND THE OTHER UNIT MOUNTED ON THE OTHER CARRAIGE CONNECTING MEANS; LONGITUDINAL AND TRANSVERSE DRIVE SHAFTS CONNECTED BETWEEN ALL OF SAID CAR- 